


saving his future

by SinginInTheRaine



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 20:51:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17552999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinginInTheRaine/pseuds/SinginInTheRaine
Summary: The Time Turner in her pocket calls out to her. It is, after all, the only way to save Fred.





	saving his future

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChronicBookworm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChronicBookworm/gifts).



She had lied, and it was haunting her. She couldn’t sleep. She could barely eat. The others thought it was the grief. Why wouldn’t they? It was what was keeping them up at nights. It was what was making all their meals a solemn affair, where everyone sat around the table in the Weasleys’ kitchen and said nothing. Every once in a while a fork would tingle against a plate, but a few seconds later, the person holding the fork would inevitably put in down in favor of just staring morosely at the person in front of them.

Somewhere out in the world, people were celebrating. The Second War had ended, and most of them had come out of it relatively unscathed. But here at the Burrow, the few moments of laughter they’d had since they returned from Hogwarts ended fast. Grief was a constant companion. For Fred. For Tonks. For Remus. For everyone else lost along the way.

There was nothing anyone could do, except try to find a way forward through the pain.

Nothing anyone could do — except she could do something if she wanted. But did she want to?

The thought was like a weight holding her down, like a chain tying her to something she would never escape. 

She had found it in the Room of Requirement the last time they had been in there, before it had been destroyed by the Fiendfyre. She hadn’t been looking for it nor had she meant to grab it and stuff it down her robes, but yet she had. And she hadn’t told anyone.

She pulled it out every once in a while, when she was alone in the bathroom or late at night. And she pulled it out now to look down on it. 

A Time Turner.

A way to save their friends, the people they loved. But at what cost?

•••

“Why are we even having this discussion?” George whispered angrily. They — Bill, George, Ron, Harry and Hermione — were huddled together in what used to be the twins’ room, tucked away in a corner without any lights in case Mr. or Mrs. Weasley or anyone else happened to walk by during a nightly stroll.

“Because you can’t mess with time!” Hermione whispered back. “It could have consequences we aren’t prepared for!”

“You just said you all did it once, and it saved people,” George argued.

“Yes, but …”

“No buts, Hermione.” Ron spoke up. “This is our brother.”

“I know,” she said miserably.

“If you didn’t want us to do this, why did you tell us you have the Time Turner?” Bill’s voice was calm, reasonable. She turned to him, her eyes beginning to flood with tears, thankful for his demeanor.

The secret had finally been too much. She had pulled Harry and Ron aside and in tears had pulled out the Time Turner.

“I don’t know what to do,” she had said, but she should have known Ron would have stared at her like he didn’t know her as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

“We save my brother!” he had said angrily, and before she could stop him, he was telling Bill and George they needed to talk. It was only with Harry’s argument that telling everyone would get their hopes up unnecessarily if it didn’t work that Ron didn’t tell the rest of the family.

But still, Hermione was uneasy. 

“There are rules with time travel,” she told Bill. It was easier to speak just to him. “You can’t interact with the other version of yourself. You can’t interact with anyone. And changing one thing could change the future if you’re not careful.”

“We’ll be careful,” George said.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Ron scoffed, and Hermione turned to him in horror. 

“Voldemort could win!” she almost shrieked. “Harry could die! That’s the worst that could happen!”

•••

In the end, Bill, Hermione and George used the time turner. Harry stayed behind to make sure none of the rest of the Weasleys noticed they were gone. Ron stayed, too, albeit unwillingly, but Hermione argued that the more people who went, the more danger there was, and George was the twin and Bill was the oldest.

So it was with one last glance at Ron’s moping face that the three of them disappeared into the past, appearing in the twins’ room the day before the war ended and Fred died.

Downstairs, they could hear the sound of people moving about. 

“Now, hurry, before they hear us!” Bill whispered, and the three of them turned in unison, Apparating to the decided upon location — a secluded house about six miles from Hogsmeade and Hogwarts that once belonged to an old witch Bill had been friends with.

They landed with a thud in a muddy patch of land, just to the side of the house.

“Oh, yuck,” George said, looking down at his muddy robes and wrinkling his nose.

They climbed out of the mud and on to the front porch, Hermione using her wand to clean them all up.

“Okay, remember the plan,” she said once they were done. “George will intercept Katie, Angelina and Alicia before they reach the Hog’s Head and convince them they need to stay in Hogsmeade to help guard everything there.”

“And I’ll get a piece of hair from each of them,” he said. 

“Do you know what you’re going to say?” Bill asked.

“I’m going to tell them we’re working on a new product for the shop,” George said, and then he clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he added. “I’m charming. It will work.”

“I hope so,” Bill said.

“Okay,” Hermione said. “So while you do that, Bill and I will go finish the Polyjuice Potion.” She looked toward the front door of the house and prayed to Merlin that Bill was right and that his witch friend really did have a stock of Polyjuice Potion on hand in her basement.

Bill saw her looking.

“She had no reason to lie to me when she was telling me about it,” he said. “We were friends.”

“What if she destroyed it before she was taken by the Death Eaters?” Hermione said, worrying her lip between her teeth.

“No,” Bill said, and he sounded confident enough for the three of them. “She didn’t.”

Hermione turned back to George. “Okay, then,” she said. “We’ll meet you outside the Hogs’s Head, drop the hairs in the potions and become the girls.”

“And then we’ll head into the Room of Requirement, corner past George and Fred and try to convince them to guard a different part of the castle.”

“And then,” Bill finished, “We’ll hide out where Fred was killed and make sure no one is there at the right time.”

Hermione nodded, and the three of them each drew in a deep breath.

“This is going to work, right?” George said, and for the first time, his voice wavered.

“It is,” Bill said, but he sounded less confident than before.

But as Hermione looked at them, their nerves and fear on display for the first time, she felt something inside her change and grow and warm her entire body.

Hope.

They hadn’t come this far to not succeed.

“It’s going to work,” she said, “We’re going to save Fred.” And she had no doubt in her mind that they would.


End file.
